


Binary Merger

by tootsonnewts



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Marriage ceremony, heavy romanticism, it's all here y'all, love! poetics! heavy emotions!, per aspera ad astra zine piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-16
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:08:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23171464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tootsonnewts/pseuds/tootsonnewts
Summary: At the end, a joining.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 30





	Binary Merger

**Author's Note:**

> i am a slop monster and took forever to get this posted, so please forgive me!
> 
> this is my sfw piece from the paaa zine, in which keith and shiro get exactly what they deserve.
> 
> i do hope you enjoy it!

Churches were never anything Keith gave particular thought to, as a concept . They served their purpose just as any other building would, and in a short, tumultuous childhood, church was the last thing Keith found significant. That isn’t to make some grand statement about religion or anything of the like. It’s simply to say that churches were the last sort of buildings Keith ever thought he would find useful.

Now, standing in the presence of their families, friends, and more people than Keith can remember ever shoving under one roof, he can understand the appeal. The stained glass, the vaulted ceilings, the heavy wooden beams overhead, the flowers Romelle insisted upon draping over everything...all of it resplendent, and nearly as beautiful as the man standing before him.

War is long. It’s impossible and painful, full of decisions nobody wants to make and battles everyone wishes to avoid. With Shiro beside him, war wasn’t easy but it was more bearable. Throughout all the sacrifice and sorrow, the gains and hope, Keith could always lean on his pillar of strength and offer a little bit of the same support in return. And now at the end of it all, they’re finally allowed to reap their reward — a universe at peace, a time to rebuild what was lost, and a chance to create something new. Something just for them. Something permanent.

_ I will never give up on you. _

Iverson transitions into a little speech about diplomacy and setting examples; it's something they weren’t able to get around including in their ceremony. No matter how instrumental they were to peace, no matter how much they'd earned their freedom, they will forever be diplomats. Which is fine, as far as Keith is concerned. If a few minutes of his own wedding is what it takes to help cement goodwill across the galaxy, then he can make the sacrifice.

Shiro’s eyes are slightly glazed over in the way that only Keith can truly tell after years of observing the man, so Keith takes the opportunity to let his gaze wander over the pews below the dais they stand upon. At the very front, the most important people in their lives perch excitedly on the wooden benches.

Keith smiles to himself, his eyes wandering over the rest of the paladins and their families. They’d each been changed in their own ways by the end of it all. War had hardened them, toughened them in a way few things have the ability to do. But they’d all made it out on the other side with their heads held high.

Keith squeezes Shiro’s hands in his own. Shiro snaps out of his daze, peering down at Keith’s face with a fondness that still shakes Keith to the core.

_ How many times are you gonna have to save me before this is over? _

_ As many times as it takes. _

Shiro, most of all, should be far different than he is after everything he’s been through. He should be less kind, less open, less full of love. In a way, he is. He’s more reserved with his trust, only willing to completely tear himself open in front of Keith, and more reserved with his affection than he once was. Still he remains unafraid to voice his feelings to the people he cares for and unafraid to stand before anyone in the universe and declare the importance of unity.

Unity is something that means more to Keith now because of him.

_ Shiro, you’re my brother. _

Unity is a tiny little word with huge implications. Sure, it’s a concept that can be loosely applied to nearly any joining, but unity also stands for the tying of two souls together until the end of time. It’s a partner in crime, a ride or die, a person who offers to hide the body when you voice your irritation over someone taking the last straw in the cafeteria. Until the Milky Way meets its eventual heat death, Keith will look the future in the face and fear nothing, because his union with Shiro will guide his way through the stars.

_ I love you. _

Iverson’s words dip in volume as he transitions away from pomp and further toward emotion. “Kerberos” falls from his lips like a stone thudding to the bottom of a pool of blood. He still feels that weight, Keith knows. They don’t talk about it, but it’s written all over him just the same. Shiro had long ago forgiven him, but they all know some scars just don’t heal the way you wish they would. Some are jagged wounds forever carved into your shoulders, your ribs, your face, your heart.

_ You saved me. _

Keith’s eyes well up with tears and Shiro squeezes his fingers. He knows what Keith is thinking. Shiro’s own eyes are watery, his lips quivering slightly as they stare each other down. Years ago, a gesture like this would have killed Keith, gutted him and flayed him wide open for the flies to swarm. Even now, he sometimes has difficulty remembering who he is and how far he’s come. And true, it isn’t thanks to Shiro alone that he’s grown into himself and become the man he is. True, his development didn’t hinge on a singular person’s love and support. But it didn’t hurt to have.

_ Love you,  _ Keith mouths as Iverson brings them all through their shared time in Voltron.

_ It’s good to have you back _

_ Love you more,  _ Shiro mouths back as their audience is regaled with the story of Iverson suggesting pre-marriage counseling to them and promptly being laughed out of the room because they’d already been in it for weeks before asking him to officiate.

_ It’s good to be back. _

Keith’s mother smiles fondly while Iverson expounds on seeing them all again for the first time. She squeezes Kolivan’s forearm tightly as she listens to metaphors about moons and stars. Shiro may be Keith’s moon, Iverson notes, but Keith will forever be Shiro’s sun: the center of his galaxy, the light to illuminate his way. They are two astronomical bodies handcrafted to occupy the same space. It’s heavy handed, but if it’s good enough to make Krolia cry, then it’s good enough for Keith.

Admiral Shirogane is asked to read his vows first. It’s only fair, Keith thinks. Their ranks within their organizations are incongruous, but Keith would be kidding himself if he pretended he didn’t know the true face of the resistance. It’s advantageous, too. If Shiro goes first, then the pressure is slightly lifted from Keith. He’s nothing if not strategic. 

Shiro clears his throat and begins. There is no script in his hand, no hastily scrawled words scratched into paper torn from a nearby flight manual in the dying ink of a nearly empty purple pen.

Instead, his devotion and love flows from his lips easily as can be, spring birds returning home from a long winter away. His thought and care weaves around the room, enveloping Keith and etching warmth into his skin like runes. The crumpled paper Keith shoved in his pants pocket in a last-minute panic remains forgotten as Shiro finishes his speech, trembling fingers reaching out to run along Keith’s flower-woven braid.

Keith turns his face into Shiro’s hand, kissing his palm before opening his own mouth to speak.

_ Patience yields focus. _

_ That really stayed with you, didn’t it? _

They say the words you speak in times of stress are a reflection of your true self. They say adrenaline gives you the kind of strength you never knew you could have. They say that once you see your beloved standing before you, everything else just falls away and it’s nothing but the two of you floating in a world of your own. Keith has experienced all of these things once or twice before. He can confirm their validity.

What they don’t tell you is how the rush of blood pounds through your ears. They don’t tell you that it’s so loud you don’t hear yourself speak and that whatever stupid words tumble from your mouth do so without your permission just so they can drop themselves at your partner’s feet, an offering carved from the deepest bowels of your soul. They never mention the buzzing beneath the skin of your knuckles and toes as you flex them against your brain melting panic to put everything you feel into words.

What nobody told Keith was that he would look his past and present and future dead in the eye and barely stifle the sob that forces itself from his own, traitorous chest.

_ If it wasn’t for you, my life would have been a lot different. _

What nobody told Keith was that Shiro would cry so handsomely when he leans in to sweep him into a kiss before it’s declared officially time. That their entire family, both natural and adopted, would whoop mercilessly from the front pews. That flower petals would rain down like glitter in the light. That none of the terror would matter in the least, because finally,  _ finally,  _ churches make sense.

It’s over after an eternity but no time at all, and once it is, there they stand: Mr. and Mr. Shirogane. Keith’s heart thrums like a hummingbird, battering itself against his ribs as Shiro tugs him forward and kisses him again like the world doesn’t exist. And maybe it doesn’t. Maybe this is all a dream and Keith will wake up someday, alone and disappointed. 

But until then, Keith is going to take his peace with both hands and never let go.

(And maybe kiss it a little harder once they’re alone.)

_ You saved me. _

_ We saved each other. _

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading!
> 
> if you enjoyed it, you can find me over on [twitter](https://twitter.com/_tootsonnewts?lang=en). i would love to say hi and chat a bit!
> 
> have a great day <3


End file.
